$100 in 1958 is worth $717 in 2007,
because prices increased 617.4% over that period, an average of
4.10% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$717
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
617.4%
Average inflation rate
4.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$717
Price difference ($100 base)
$617
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1958 → 2007
$717
$100 in 2007 → 1958
$13.94
What happened to prices between 1958 and 2007
Between 1958 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 617.4%, which works out to an average of
4.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2007: the 1958 dollar
lost 86.1% of its purchasing power over
these 49 years.
Consumer prices rose 2.8% in 1958, down only slightly from
1957’s 3.3% even as the country sank into the sharpest
postwar recession to that point, an early sign that inflation and a
shrinking economy could coexist rather than trade off against each other.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the downturn’s trough to
that April, with unemployment peaking near 7.5% that summer, the worst
reading since the 1930s. The Post Office raised first-class postage to 4
cents that August 1, up from 3 cents, the rate’s first change since 1932.
Washington answered the Soviet Union’s technological lead that summer
too: Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29,
establishing NASA, which opened for business that October 1 to compete
with the Soviet space program after the shock of Sputnik the year before.
Consumer prices finished 1958 191.9% above their 1913
level. The minimum wage held at $1.00 an hour, and first-class postage
rose to 4 cents that August, the first increase since 1932.
Every 1958 amount converts to 2007 at the same ratio, 7.17: $1,000 becomes
$7,174, and $10,000 becomes $71,745.
Amount in 1958
Value in 2007
$1.00
$7.17
$5.00
$35.87
$10.00
$71.74
$20.00
$143
$50.00
$359
$100
$717
$500
$3,587
$1,000
$7,174
$5,000
$35,872
$10,000
$71,745
$100,000
$717,446
$1,000,000
$7,174,464
Inflation by spending category, 1958–2007
Between 1958 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 1604.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 166.8%, against 617.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.10%
$717
Medical care
5.96%
$1,704
Energy
4.74%
$966
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.09%
$712
Food
3.96%
$672
Transportation
3.88%
$646
Apparel
2.02%
$267
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.20% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1958–2007 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1958, at end
1958–1960
1.20%
2.4%
$102
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$134
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$285
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$452
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$596
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$717
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $334 by
1982, on its way to $717 in 2007; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and the smallest rise was 0.7% in 1959.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $717; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 2007: $100 is worth $717 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-2007/